Here is my latest "Hits" compilation - noticed I dropped the modifying (and ridiculously boastful) "greatest" from the title. But, despite being my 23rd, will be the first in 13 years since the 2007 release of volume 22, or 12 years since the subsequent 100th anthology album. Either way, this has been the longest gap between such compilations. And, despite the marked increase in quality, and changing from a 3-albums-per-hits-package to 4, it is still largely a wishful thinking "could-have-been" tongue-in-cheek exercise. If nothing else, it allows me to cull the best tracks - or those with the most commercial potential - into one place for those interested in such collection, or daunted at the prospect of getting lost in my vast back catalog.
I limited myself to the 80-minute maximum capacity of a CD to determine how long the album would be. By trimming several minutes off of a few tracks, I was able to include 16 songs pulled from the previous four albums, which, despite being quite high for even established and successful bands, I found I was confronted with the reality of having to exclude songs I thought should have been included, due to lack of space. They will get an honorable mention.
Rather than pulling four songs from each album, I ended up heavily favoring the two recent albums, which have SIX songs each featured. leaving room for only two songs each from the first two albums. Aside from me thinking there were better songs, and better produced, there was the practical matter that the first album, Ω 100.5, is an EP with really only four songs, of which I chose half to include here. Ω 101, though a full-length album, was filled with a lot of non-pop and non-commercial experiments and contained really only five "pop/rock" tracks, three of which were songs with lyrics, so choosing two out of those seemed fair. Also worth noting is the eight-year gap between the two oldest songs and the 14 others, because this was the longest gap since I started recording in 1985 That eight-year difference was why I thought those earlier two songs wouldn't match the others, hence the editing I did which I explain later.
I tried to program the song sequence in a logical and interesting way that had some flow to it, so, unlike most of my compilations, but like my last couple, it is not in chronological order. In fact, I made sure that no two tracks from a single album were next to each other.
Four of the songs received "single edit" treatment, where I lopped off extended instrumental intros or outros, a short as 30 seconds or as much as three minutes. Had I not done this, I would have had to lose one or two songs. "The Long Haul," despite losing a 2-minute intro, gained a four-beat count-off that was edited out of the original version. "Dave" required some remixing beyond simply fading out early. I also took the opportunity to "fix" a few bits in some of these songs that had been bothering me. I'm not sure anyone would even notice.
What SHOULD be noticeable are the two oldest songs from 2008's EP. They received extensive vocal editing which normally I would have left alone, but they would have stuck out from all the newer songs unless I did something. Thus the most time and attention went into "Songs Of Love" and "In The Weeds" to correct my spotty intonation on both the lead and backing vocals. As I had to refer to older stages in the recording process in order to get to the original unmixed vocal tracks, I ended up having to remixing them at the end, so even that is a bit different, too.
Honorable mentions that I thought would make the cut, or should have if there was enough room. Just remember the opinion that some of the best songs (i.e. "deeper cuts") often don't become hits:
"Evolved" from Ω 100.5. Seemed a bit too quirky. Having something a bit more uptempo and energetic would have been welcome, but this odd punk/prog hybrid in the final analysis doesn't seem like hit material.
"I'm Terrible With Names" from Ω 101. Might have made it if it weren't so short and just acoustic guitar and voice. Seemed out of place despite being a bit more traditional in style.
"I Never Knew" from Ω 102. A missed opportunity to include a rocker, but just seemed to rank behind those that made it. Perhaps because it lacked a proper chorus and only has a tag/hook where the name of the song is mentioned.
"As It Was, And Again" from Ω 102. I thought the form of this song was a bit too whimsical and through-composed to be the standard song form you'd expect in a pop song, so it really is more of a prog ballad.
"Just A Couple" from Ω 103. I feel I missed an opportunity to include a song that features a female guest vocalist, but all during the re-recording of this song I kept thinking how weird it was tuning out. Now that it is finished and has grown on me it doesn't seem as strange, but the lack of room remains an issue. The small consolation is that this song, and Christine Coyle's vocal performance, like other remade songs listed here, appeared on previous hits compilations.
"You Had One Job" from Ω 103. I felt this one was a little too aggressively atypical, with too-strange a "solo" section, but otherwise might have made the cut.
"Every Day Of The Year (Is The Same)" from Ω 103. Although I thought at first this could be a hit, it later seemed to be a minor song, perhaps a "B-side." Not enough room.....
I hope you enjoy this selection and some of the different "bonus" features I mentioned above.
James Castelli
credits
released August 16, 2020
All songs written and performed by James Castelli except for the guitar intro and solo on "Pie In The Face" by Keith Kramer.
Omega (Ω) is the symbol chosen back in 1985 to catalogue any musical endeavor in which James Castelli participated that was
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